Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for processing optical fibers.
Description of Prior Art
Previously there is known a coating process where an optical fiber element is produced by coating several fibers with plastic forming a coating tube around the fibers.
In order to ensure that the plastic of the coating tube is cooled in a controlled manner, the optical fiber element is led into a cooling trough filled with water. The wet optical fiber element is then pulled with a pair of pulleys contacting the outer surface of the optical fiber element, and eventually the optical fiber element is winded up on a reel.
A problem with the above described solution is that the wet optical fiber element is slippery. Additionally, attention needs to be paid to the fact that the pulleys do not direct to much force on the outer surface of the optical fiber element, as too much force may change the shape of the optical fiber element by damaging the coating and possibly also the optical fibers.
As the market tends to continuously require higher and higher line speeds, handling of the optical fiber element has turned out to be challenging. The risk is that the optical fiber element slips out from the space between the pulleys, which results in a production stop and also in a waste of raw-materials.